1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates an edible projectile for use with animals, particularly an edible and biodegradable food projectile safe for use with pets and other animals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projectile launchers as toys exist that use soft, safe foam darts as well as balls, flying discs, and the like. These launchers have a high appeal because of the play value they provide as well as their ability to be safely used by children. Due to their popularity, many launchers and foam projectiles have been developed in conjunction a variety of launcher combinations. These combinations have included, but are not limited to, bow and arrows of the type disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,464 to Burnham et at., foam ball launchers of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,549 to Webber, and foam dart launchers of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,537,001 to Ma and in U.S. Pat. App. No. 2010/0059031 to Siebelink. Other launchers, capable of launching a plurality of projectiles from a magazine have also been developed such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,156 to Clayton.
Soft projectile launchers are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,888,004 to Steiner; U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,453 to Ayala; U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,246 to Wolfe; U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,696 to Hoverath et at.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,426 to Lohr et at.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,828 to Getgey et at.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,323 to Rappaport; U.S. Pat. No. 7,882,829 to Witzigreuter; U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,922 to Siebelink; U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,371 to Ong, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,085 to Lewis et al.
Launchers can be fed by rotating firing assemblies or magazines containing multiple projectiles similar to the type disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,385 to Thai; U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,232 to Rosenblum et al.; and by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,408,837; 5,924,413; and 5,787,869 to Johnson et al.
Manufacture of starch foam materials are known in the art. Starch foam expanded with polyvinyl alcohol (‘PVA”) is used in applications that require good flexibility or low embrittlement and as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,043,196 and 5,043,196 to N. L. Lacourse et al., and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,371 to Roesser, et al. Other disclosures include U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,804 to E. George et al which shows the formation of articles using biodegradable compositions comprising converted or degraded starch of low molecular weight, a plasticizer and alkenol polymers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,830; 5,589,830; 5,736,586; and 5,801,207 to Bastioli et al. disclose foams from blends of starch with 10-30% of polymers such as PVA, poly (caprolactone), cellulose acetate, poly (ethylene vinyl alcohol), and poly (ethylene-co-acrylic acid). Technology to make biodegradable starch-based foams using polyglycols is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,382 to Neumann and U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,267 to Seib. Methods for forming biodegradable polymers from starch and polylactic acids (“PLA”) are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,325 to Xiuzhi, et al. A biodegradable polymer composition from starch, thermo plastic polymers, and plasticizers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,946,506 to Bond et al.
A need remains for a safe, biodegradable and edible foam projectile adapted to be launched for use with pets and animals.